Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Although I can't say I'm surprised, I guess I wasn't paying attention because it wasn't until today that I first heard that people have actually died as a result of some of the interrogation techniques we've been using in the War Against Terror. It is important to note that these techniques do not constitute torture because as we all know, America doesn't torture. Nevertheless, our interviews must be pretty intense because according to Joseph Sifton of Human Rights Watch, something like 100 detainees have died during interrogations!

A simple fact is being overlooked in the Bush-era torture scandal: the number of cases in which detainees have been tortured to death. Abuse did not only involve the high-profile cases of smashing detainees into plywood barriers (“walling”), confinement in coffin-like boxes with insects, sleep deprivation, cold, and waterboarding. To date approximately 100 detainees, including CIA-held detainees, have died during U.S. interrogations, and some are known to have been tortured to death.

It'll be interesting to hear how Dick Cheney addresses this. Sure, he'll deny the validity of the report and question the integrity of the Human Rights Watch folks, but my guess is that he'll also mention that if you're gonna break a few eggs when you make an omlette.